Billionaire Trump is ‘ordinary New Yorker’

Donald Trump’s notorious and short-lived director of communications, Anthony Scaramucci, has explained his former boss’s temperamental social media presence by claiming he’s just an ordinary guy like you and me.

The US president’s twitter broadsides at enemies and allies – including Prime Minister Theresa May – are part of everyday New York life, Mr Scaramucci said, insisting that it was “not the end of the world”, even for a man with nuclear launch codes.

Mr Scaramucci, who was fired just 11 days into his White House career after briefing a journalist about shortcomings of fellow senior administration figures, told the BBC’S Today programme that Mr Trump “would never have become president” if he was more presidential.

“I don’t know who your listeners are, but if they’re listening to this, they’re proba- bly laughing a little bit and saying, that’s sort of like me,” Mr Scaramucci said. “When you’re in a row with somebody temporarily, you can rail on each other a little bit, but down deep you’re friends,” he said, adding that the president has a “personal fond affection” for Mrs May.

“When he’s hit, he’s a counter-puncher, and he’s quite combative, the media takes that and distorts that aggressively on him … When he feels well defended he probably dials down the personal invective that takes place on Twitter. When he feels undefended, he’ll go out there and defend himself.”

“The Mooch” added: “You’re not going to change a 71-year-old guy about to be 72. He’s a New Yorker. New Yorkers have a tendency to stick and jab once in a while. I’m obviously a New Yorker, I’ve done that. It’s not the end of the world.”